Teacher charged with forcible touching
AMENIA, N.Y. >> A Webutuck High School teacher who lives in Hyde Park was charged with forcible touching after two female students at the school alleged sexual offenses by the man, state police and the teacher’s attorney said Wednesday.
Craig Trachtenberg, 57, was arrested Tuesday afternoon after surrendering at the state police barracks in Dover, according to Senior Investigator Eric Barnes.
Barnes said Trachtenberg surrendered after “a long, ongoing investigation” and was charged with two counts of forcible touching and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.
Trachtenberg is accused of touching the “private or sexual areas” of two students, the senior investigator said.
Police did not provide the students’ ages or genders. Trachtenberg’s attorney, Michael Pollok, said both accusers are girls.
Pollok said his client “adamantly denies the allegations being made against him.”
The lawyer wrote in an email that one complainant “claims Mr. Trachtenberg hit her buttocks with some papers, which, even if that were true, is not a crime under any circumstances” and that “a second complainant claims that he loosely grabbed her buttocks and admits in her sworn deposition that if Mr. Trachtenberg were gone, her ‘grades would be better.’”
Pollok said the allegations “do not satisfy the essential elements of any crime.”
Trachtenberg, a science teacher who has worked for the school district in eastern Dutchess County for 27 years, was put on paid administrative leave about two months ago, when the district started investigating the matter, Superintendent Ray Castellani said Wednesday.
Trachtenberg’s salary is $102,243 per year, according to SeeThroughNY.net.
Barnes said the investigation is continuing in conjunction with the state Department of Education and that authorities are looking to determine whether any other students were touched inappropriately. Additional charges are possible, he said.
Trachtenberg was arraigned in North East Town Court and sent to the Dutchess County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail, police said.